All It Takes Is Cookies And Looks
by Wainwright
Summary: Spencer Reid has never had a valentine and this year is no different. Derek Morgan thinks that neither of them should be lonely on the most romantic holiday. A sneaky technical analyst, a tray of cookies, a seemingly harmless request and a red silk tie. The young genius is in for quite a surprise.


**_A/N Hello there. So it's been forever since I published anything but this was stuck in my brain and I had to get it out. This is my first Criminal Minds that I've published so enjoy yourselves and look for more in the future. Here's a little Moreid loving for y'all. ;)_**

**_Disclaimer: As often as it has been on my wish list, I still do not own Criminal Minds and it belongs to the folks over at CBS. _**

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_"Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable." - Bruce Lee _

The bullpen was relatively quiet, to say it was a Thursday. There were only a dozen or so agents seated at their desks or stood at the coffee machine diligently working or refuelling. Occasional people bustled through the glass doors with various files in their arms, on their phones or chatting with other bureau employees. Outside the sun was shining but a cool breeze would frequently pass through and keep the air light and pleasant. In the office, where the windows weren't open, it was starting to get more heated and jackets were removed almost instantly in the confined space.

"I made cookies!" Penelope announced happily as she bundled into the bullpen with a tray full of tasty treats.

"Aww, babygirl, you shouldn't have." Throwing an arm around her shoulders, Morgan grinned widely, pinching a pink iced love heart shaped cookie from her before sitting at his desk and biting into it.

The bubbly blonde then promptly headed over to Prentiss who gratefully accepted one with a wink, shoving her nose back deep into her mountain of paperwork as she spilled crumbs onto her lap.

"What's the occasion?" The youngest agent questioned, frowning whilst recalling everyone's birthdays in case he'd somehow forgotten.

"Dr Reid, are you genuinely asking that question or are you attempting a joke?" Garcia retorted, moving to stand by his desk and giving Morgan a 'is he serious?' look. Glancing around to the others in the office, Spencer bit his lip and shook his head.

"It wasn't a joke. I… I seriously don't know."

The seemingly hyper technical analyst looked at Derek with a somewhat berating look as if it were his sole job in life to make sure their colleague was informed of all such goings-on and he'd most certainly failed.

"Come on, kid. It's Valentine's Day! Hence, Miss. Beautiful's pink and red ensemble, the heart shaped cookies, etc." Morgan moved from his seat to stand beside Penelope as she curtsied slightly at the compliment with a grin wide enough to warm a thousand hearts. Lucky for Derek, she'd moved back onto Spencer.

"Duh! It's one of my favourite holidays, along with Christmas and Halloween. It's February 14th, the date doesn't even change, how could you forget?" Waving her arms to exaggerate her point, she looked at him inquisitively as if he'd explain that his eidetic memory had taken a vacation and that was a suitable excuse.

"Well, I never really had a reason to remember it. My mother would only remind me because she used to read me Valentine's poems. In fact, St. Valentine's Day began as a celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. The most popular was a Saint Valentine who was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. Legend states that before his execution he wrote a letter signed 'from your Valentine' as a farewell. The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards known as '_valentines_'."

"Well, well, I hope you've all learned something." Rossi's voice filled the air around the three agents for several moments as he passed through and escaped with a cookie in the opposite direction. Morgan was stood in place with his mouth open as he tried to accept that Reid had just replaced a lovey-dovey excuse to get women on a date with a history lesson. Garcia on the other hand, had different priorities.

"You've never had a Valentine?"

"No." Reid answered with a shrug.

"Ever?"

"Ever."

"Oh my sweet child, how you are missing out." She let her hand fall to his shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"I sent a card once." He offered, tilting his head to see if that was satisfactory.

"To who? When was this?"

"Carol Mackie, when I was fifteen."

"And? What happened?"

"She laughed so fitfully she fell off her chair in the middle of our History lesson and proceeded to announce to the whole class that 'the loser in the back corner' was in love with her. Even the teacher laughed. At lunch, Joseph Allan punched me in the stomach before admitting to be her secret admirer and they kissed in front of everyone to rapturous applause."

Silence fell on them.

"That's… horrible." Derek had finally found his words after supressing an urge to colourfully insult every single one of Reid's classmates. Penelope's gaze was on Spencer's face before pulling him into the tightest hug she could manage without breaking him in half.

"It was a long time ago." He shrugged, stepping back and filling his lungs with oxygen once she finally released him from her tight grip.

Morgan and Garcia exchanged looks for a few moments before the mood between them changed. Narrowing her eyes, the blonde eventually won an unknown contest by staring at the usually collected man so intensely that he crumbled under her gaze. Reid sat in his seat blinking up at the pair with complete confusion. Returning her cheerful smile to her rosy cheeks, Penelope resumed her customary flirtatious manner.

"Well, you can have two cookies from me for being a cutie and know I would have appreciated it immensely should you have given me a Valentine's card in school." With that, she ruffled the young genius' chestnut hair, poked Derek in the chest and left in a flurry of pink.

The two agents watched as she departed from their work area, followed closely by Emily who muttered something about a lunch date with JJ. Returning his gaze and thoughts to his present company for a moment, Morgan smiled over at Reid before taking his seat, letting out a breath he didn't realise he was holding and beginning to type out a report on his computer.

Minutes ticked by in the peacefulness of the office with only the sound of Derek's keyboard and Spencer's crunching as he finished off the delicious cookies Penelope had left him. After fourteen minutes, obviously Reid knew the preciseness, he finally raised his voice.

"Morgan?" He poked his head out of his stall to see the older agent's face.

"Yeah, kid?"

"What was all that about?"

"What was all what about?" He retorted, eyebrows knitting in confusion as he easily removed his gaze from the screen to Spencer's face and questioning look.

"With Garcia? You two looked like you were having a telepathic connection if that were actually possible."

"You know her; she sometimes looks like she's staring into your soul."

"Yeah, but why was she looking at you like that?"

Morgan looked back at him more seriously for a moment then shrugged. Blinking slowly just once for emphasis, Reid folded his arms neatly over his chest in what he hoped was an intimidating and formidable manner. Who was he even trying to fool? Like Doctor Spencer Reid could ever intimidate _the _Derek Morgan. It was like a mouse its baring teeth at an eagle.

"Look, man, it's nothing." He replied, waving his arm passively as Spencer continued to stare at him.

"Okay, okay. I…don't happen to have a date tonight either."

"You don't? Wait a second. You're kidding me right now, aren't you? Of course you are." Reid's eyebrows were rising up his forehead before frowning at the realisation that Morgan was probably messing with him.

"I'm really not, kid. You think I'm a dog or something?"

"No, no. That's harsh. It's just, well…I've never seen you with the same girl twice so you obviously receive scads of attention from females and I shouldn't see you having a problem for this night in particular."

"Maybe I don't want to spend it with some girl I just picked up in a bar, huh? That thought cross your genius mind?" His dark eyes narrowed as he looked across the short distance at Spencer.

"So….alone then?" Fidgeting slightly, Reid decided to take the discussion back a few steps.

"Well, Penny was thinking, perhaps we should spend the evening together?"

"Us? But we're not… that's like…. Why?" A laugh left Morgan as he watched the young man try to get to grips with the incomparable thought process of one Penelope Garcia.

"Relax, Reid. It'll be like a guys' night. So neither of us will be lonely? You know movies, beer and popcorn? No love sick rubbish like '_The Notebook'_ or '_Dear John'_."

"Oh, yeah, okay. That does sound more enjoyable. After all, the film channels will probably play mushy couple stuff and we can have '_Star Trek'_." He grinned widely at the thought.

"Again? You have an eidetic memory; you know every single little thing ever about those movies."

"Would you rather be alone?"

"No, no. No, no. '_Star Trek'_ it is." Morgan nodded affirmatively. "See you at six?"

"Done." A simple and firm reply came punctuated with an excited smile.

The rest of the afternoon and the start of evening were spent working in a fair amount of quiet. Prentiss returned an hour or so after she'd bustled away and slipped into her cubicle without a word before resuming her written report for the remainder of her hours. When it came to clocking out time, Spencer was already near done and quickly finished up, packed his leather satchel, said his goodbyes and departed the building with a smile at Derek.

Twenty laborious minutes later, after the department was nearly empty aside from Hotch who was still nestled in his office, Morgan tidied his desk and gathered up his things.

"Night, Prentiss."

"Yeah, have a good one, Morgan. See you tomorrow." Stifling a yawn, Emily waved as he left through the glass doors.

Instead of crossing the wide corridor to the elevator, Derek turned the corner and headed towards Garcia's office, noting the light still on. Knocking once, he opened the door and stepped inside to see an array of decorations and a large bowl of sweets next to the concentrating technical analyst.

"Welcome to Garcia's lair of all things knowable and unknowable, what can I do you for?" She asked, swinging slowly around in her chair as she stopped typing. "Well, well, if it isn't my chocolate Adonis gracing me with his presence." A grin grew on her face as she greeted him and he returned it similarly.

"Now, silly girl, I'm afraid I've not come for a lengthy chat on how fabulous we both are. I really came to inform you that after your little silent interrogation earlier, I asked Reid to come over tonight so I don't expect any angry, nagging emails asking if I've done it yet and how it's going."

"Awww." She responded both positively and negatively. "I'm glad you finally manned up and kicked down to the door to his lonely heart but darn if I'm not disappointed there shall be no details."

"No, complaining. I did it. And, if you're lucky, I'll tell you how it goes when I get in tomorrow." Morgan laughed, already on his way back out of the door with his bag over his shoulder.

"Me first! You come see me first, you hear?!" She called after him as his chuckle was heard down the corridor slowly fading away.

CM/CM/CM/CM/CM/CM/CM

Spencer arrived promptly at Derek's house, always upholding his punctual nature. Taking the few steps up to the front door, he knocked thrice and stepped back. Only a few moments passed before Morgan was opening the door with a large grin.

"Hey, kid."

"Uhh, hey, Morgan." Reid greeted in return but was somewhat distracted by the older man's attire.

Normally on arriving home, Derek would change into the comfiest clothes he could find and relax on his couch for a considerable length of time. Spencer had witnessed that several times before. However, this evening, he was wearing a black shirt, trousers and an eye-catching red silk tie. Of course Spencer was never scruffy but he felt a little under-dressed for the occasion, even though Morgan had stated it was simply a 'guys night in so no one has to be alone on Valentine's day'. It in itself was an odd offer as usually Morgan would surely have a date for such a romantic night. Reid wasn't complaining in any capacity, he enjoyed lazy evenings in Derek's company when they'd watch movies and sometimes after a compromise, Morgan would put on a sports game of some kind and explain the objective and his enjoyment to Spencer. Most notably, on cold nights, Morgan would make him a perfect cup of cocoa with ample marshmallows and he'd often fall asleep a short time after slurping it down. Every time he'd wake to a blanket draped over him, the heater a bit closer and Clooney laid at the end of the couch like his own personal bodyguard.

"Come on in." The deep voice broke through his haze of remembrance and Spencer stepped over the threshold with a grateful nod.

"You look….smart, tonight. Finally found a date so you're not alone with me on the most romantic holiday in the entire year?" A laugh left him but it was a tad insincere as he hoped in truth, Morgan wasn't going to send him home in favour of a female companion.

"I thought I'd make the effort. You never know who'll appreciate it and it fits nicely with the evening."

"What do you mean it fits nicely with the-?" Spencer cut himself off as his jaw dropped open at the unexpected scene he found in Derek's living room.

The room was dimly lit with a dozen flickering candles placed evenly around the large space, the television was on and playing '_Star Trek: The Next Generation' _while on the table in a clear vase resided a handful of roses. From the kitchen, I delightful smell drifted to Spencer's nose and the familiar waft of his favourite food tickled his taste buds.

"What do you say, Pretty Boy?" Derek spoke with an evident smile as he joined him at the entrance.

"Be my Valentine?"

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**_A/N Well there you have it. I hope you had fun reading this late Valentine's day gift from me. Even if there was a sneaky cliffhanger!_**

**_I enjoyed writing this and I like how it turned out but I do have further ideas rattling around in my brain for this to be a two-shot or even a multi-chapter story._**

**_So, like and/or favourite if you feel that way inclined (I do hope you are!) but I would really appreciate if you'd leave a review giving your thoughts on if I should continue this and of course any praise or creative criticism is always welcome._**

**_Thank you muchly for reading! :)_**


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